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What’s The Only Thing…

…better than watching Real Americans of all races, faiths and ideologies cutting the crap and helping each other out in a jam?

Across the [area affected by Hurricane Harvey], Americans are coming together to help each other. Despite the racial divisions exacerbated by small numbers of fanatics on the left and right, (and amplified by the press), out in the real America white people, black people and Asians helped each other, men rescued women and children, and so on. The “Cajun Navy,” which had so distinguished itself in response to flooding in Louisiana, took its boats to Texas and started saving people.

People who spontaneously organize impressive responses might make the public feel as though government doesn’t have all the answers, and that self-reliance beats waiting for the government to solve their problems. Why, that’s troubling.

Something like this mental process must have prompted New Yorker editor David Remnick to greenlight this article, titled “Why does American need the Cajun Navy?”

I saw somebody on Facebook yesterday saying “I hate it when people in low-tax states ask the Feds for help”. To which I replied “everyone pays the same federal taxes, for the same federal “Services”, including disaster aid; if coastal states pay more per capita, it’s because incomes and cost of living are higher – and since when do you people not support progressive taxation?”

By the way – does it seem to anyone else that “low-tax, low-service” Texas’ response to Harvey, one of the great catastophes in American history, is going a lot better than high-tax, high-“service” New York, New Jersey and Connecticut’s response to the fairly mundane Sandy?

10 thoughts on “What’s The Only Thing…”

Mitch, I often am left with the impression you are simply covering for the ludicrousness of the right.

Rushbo, your hero, says Irma’s over-hyped, and that he’s the “go-to, unbiased guy” in his family about hurricanes, he “analyzes the data”, and says hurricanes are often hype to advance climate change agendas and sell building materials and that no hurricane has hit the US in 12 years. Even more, that the left tries to use fear and hype to promote their agenda on this stuff, because fear is a powerful motivator.

Yep, and then he evacuated his home in Palm Beach (he’s such a working class guy).

And, as far as using fear goes, Limbaugh is probably the chief propagandist in the country – Obama was going to start indoctrination camps, have death panels, yada yada..

So, the HYPE here, the crabbling here, is on the right, Mitch. Limbaugh is dead wrong that no hurricane had hit the US since Katrina – and the forecasters aren’t advancing any agenda, they’re trying to save lives, and while the Cajun Navy deserves credit, it was the federal government and state governments which step in and provide things like emergency shelters and first responders evacuating MANY more people than the Cajun Navy – you are in fact the one crabbling here. Individual efforts are fine and wonderful and we’re ALL happy to have them but don’t for a moment pretend they cover the vast expanse of problems as some way to try to offload blame which is correctly pointed at you and your political allies about under-funding government and the poor city planning, poor drainage planning, and poor evacuation plans which stemmed from that lack of funds.

One last thing Mitch, you obviously didn’t get the point the person complaining about red-state hypocrisy was making. The fact that Houston planned like crap for how to deal with chemical plants which might be exposed to flooding in a hurricane means that EXTRA money from the federal government had to come it to help in a place where if they’d paid for correct planning, had correct regulation, it wouldn’t have been needed. So, those of us who pay for better state government now need to see OUR portion of our taxes go to help in an amount greater than was needed. In short, we wind up subsidizing them. And by the way, Mitch, I doubt very much the person whom you’re arguing against EVER said people in Texas pay less in federal taxes per person than do people in Minnesota, but nice strawman, pointless argument anyway. Hope it helps salve your conscience, but the truth is you’re still at part responsible for the contempt for government that has become so commonplace. Maybe you and Limbaugh should, instead of relying on government, and the roads which were built by it, or the airports constructed by it, maybe instead you should take a quick flight down to Florida, scream FAKE STORM at the hurricane and then WALK your butts out.

Do us a favor and go back and look at my answers to yesterday’s comments, OK?

Mitch, I often am left with the impression you are simply covering for the ludicrousness of the right.

Boy, if that wasn’t the most tailor-made Berg’s Seventh Law violation in history, I don’t know what is.

Rushbo, your hero, says Irma’s over-hyped, and that he’s the “go-to, unbiased guy” in his family about hurricanes, he “analyzes the data”, and says hurricanes are often hype to advance climate change agendas and sell building materials and that no hurricane has hit the US in 12 years

Your “source” for this is Media Matters, which yanked Limbaugh grossly out of context. .

Even more, that the left tries to use fear and hype to promote their agenda on this stuff, because fear is a powerful motivator.

And there, he’s absolutely right.

Yep, and then he evacuated his home in Palm Beach

So this hasn’t gotten you to stop and think – did “Media Matters” perhaps lie to you about his original statement?

(he’s such a working class guy).

Yeah, the nerve of that guy – advancing his fortunes through his life. As did I. And you, for that matter. You’re not exactly digging trenches for a living, now, are you?

And, as far as using fear goes, Limbaugh is probably the chief propagandist in the country – Obama was going to start indoctrination camps, have death panels, yada yada..

Well, media forecasters are going for ratings, and storms do generate them. No way around it.

and while the Cajun Navy deserves credit, it was the federal government and state governments which step in and provide things like emergency shelters and first responders evacuating MANY more people than the Cajun Navy – you are in fact the one crabbling here.

Well, no. The Feds do help with that sort of thing.

Which is what we pay federal taxes for. End of story!

poor city planning, poor drainage planning, and poor evacuation plans which stemmed from that lack of funds.

They had money to build a couple of billion-dollar football stadiums. There’s no “lack of funds”. There’s merely government’s appetite for sexy graft rather than prudence.

One last thing Mitch, you obviously didn’t get the point the person complaining about red-state hypocrisy was making. The fact that Houston planned like crap for how to deal with chemical plants which might be exposed to flooding in a hurricane means that EXTRA money from the federal government had to come it to help in a place where if they’d paid for correct planning, had correct regulation, it wouldn’t have been needed.

Well, no. The complainant was, specifically, calling them hypocrites for having low state taxes but then asking for help from the feds. That is all.

And by the way, Mitch, I doubt very much the person whom you’re arguing against EVER said people in Texas pay less in federal taxes per person than do people in Minnesota, but nice strawman, pointless argument anyway

Pointless? Like most arguments about politics, sure.

You’re adding detail to their statement that they did not.

Maybe you and Limbaugh should, instead of relying on government, and the roads which were built by it, or the airports constructed by it, maybe instead you should take a quick flight down to Florida, scream FAKE STORM at the hurricane and then WALK your butts out.

Not sure why asking for less government turns into asking for no government. I will use the roads that I paid just as much as you did for, thankewverymuch, and I will still criticize the ineffeciency with which they do it, and when there’s a disaster, I will use whatever emergency services I have paid for, by your indulgent leave.

The Left absolutely hates the abilities of people — not just Americans, though we are better at it — to spontaneously address common problems. A good bit of the story of the USSR was the Soviets purposeful, studied destruction of all social institutions below the state. Marriage, family, community, ethnic and national identities were shattered.
Yet when the USSR broke up, it broke up along ethnic and national lines.
Stalin’s Great Terror was a failure, an utter waste of the human lives it cruelly extinguished.
Today’s Left is like the Ancien Regime of France. It forgets nothing, it learns nothing.

Regarding Pen’s rant, it’s worth noting the author has been with the Atlantic since 2006, so he is indeed representative of their thought, and he’s highlighting the city’s vulnerability to a 500 year flood as if it indicted their planning was horribly deficient. Pen, it’s a 500 year flood–the devastation means that it’s….a 500 year flood. If you want government to prepare for every 500 year contingency, plan on your taxes tripling. Good luck paying a 120% income tax.

Besides, any sane person, which apparently excludes Pen, knows that there are some things from which government won’t be able to protect you. Maybe it’s a good idea to have a bass boat and a walkie-talkie if you live in the bayou, and be ready to use it. Cajun Navy forever!

Pen: flood victims in Houston should receive no federal help. They planned poorly. They live in a red state.

Joe: You had me at “no federal help.” Implement that policy across the board and we’re back to Constitution 1.0 as it was intended.

Pen: Rush said the news media is hyping hurricanes to pump ratings and advance their global warming agenda.

Joe: I heard that segment and especially liked the “red blob” bit to explain why the medial was causing panic. Haven’t seen or heard anything to refute his point.

Pen: At the beginning of the week, before the storm had hit any islands, Rush said early models were so bad nobody knew where the storm was going to go, it might even hook North and miss Florida; but now that we know where it’s headed, Rush is evacuating his home.

Joe: Pen, it might snow this winter. You should evacuate your home now. Drop off the keys on your way. Because you wouldn’t want to wait until you know for sure there’s a problem. Best to act well in advance.

Ya know, I think the only people listening ti Rush are leftist pinheads. They keep puking his talking points on my shoes, and I have no f*cking idea what they’re talking about, and neither does anyone I know.

Tell me teh Peevee, what is Rush gonna talk about next week, ya little twerp? Doesn’t he live in your Cul-de-sac?

It will be a difficult sell to the non-Texan American taxpayer if the Rainy Day fund isn’t tapped to a significant extent. The $200 Billion Recovery cost must be borne mostly at the national level but a good faith effort by Texas is required.

Perhaps the Rainy Day Fund is the go bag full of cash for the Ivory Tower when they crash the state and run off. :^)

Bluer than blue Hawaii spent it’s rainy day fund on a non-working,likely never to be completed light rail system. Then they mortgaged it against future earnings.
Government, led by the best and brightest, urging js ever lnward into the abyss.